DC: 2012-04-07- - Nothing to Fear but the Fearsome Five Itself
It's been a rough half a day for the Titans. While on patrol, Cyborg went missing. What was worse, his homing signal over on his communicator has not registered either, which would normally send out a distress signal if he was incapcacitated. So the Titans have been on a grid patrol of San Francisco all day, the entire team split up in searching for him. Nightwing is leading a patrol group with the Titans having called in some friends to help them search over one section of the grid, where Cyborg was last spotted. Nightwing roars up on his bike, hair moving with the wind and momentum of his ride. A touch to his left ear activates the comm link, and he speaks. "Star, Kara? You here? This is the last known location of Cyborg's Comm unit. Lady B, Pilot.. thanks for the assist." He says over the encryted comm network. Dismounting he shuts of the bike and activates the security system with the ease of long practice. His steps are next to silent, his gaze sweeping the area, searching for something not right, something that shouldn't be there. Or something that should, and isn't. Starfire is flying along to flank Nightwing, her eyes blazing with fury, "Are you able to pick up anything?" She speaks along the general communications frequencies to the others. Kara Zor-El flies over to Pilot as they're flying over the city. "Um... thanks for helping with the search. I'd think between you, me, Kori and Lady Blackhawk doing aerial search and Nightwing on the ground, we should pick something up, right?" She touches the comm in her ear. "Nightwing, did you find anything to show where Cyborg went?" Kara Zor-El flies over to Pilot as they're flying over the city. "Um... thanks for helping with the search. I'd think between you, me, and Lady Blackhawk doing aerial search and Nightwing and Kori on the ground, we should pick something up, right?" She touches the comm in her ear. "Nightwing, did you find anything to show where Cyborg went?" Pilot is in Bomber, a strange stubby winged hunk of steel that certainly doesn't look flight-worthy, especially as it slows to a halt over the spot that Nightwing hops off his bike. The engine noise goes from a good roar to a quiet idle as Pilot powers down the thrust. The lead zeppelin hangs in mid air as Pilot calls out one of the windows to Kara, "Not a problem Supergirl! Glad to be of any assitance I can." She gets out of the command chair and walks out of sight, soon reappearing as she slides back a hatch. With a swan dive she jumps out to join Kara once she gets some air under her 'wings'. "Can you see anything with your super eyes?" Meanwhile, Lady Blackhawk is at the controls of the Birds of Prey plane, making a slow...as slow as it will go...circuit over the city, watching her radio circuits. "No signals that aren't from you guys yet." She tightens the circle over the place Nightwing indicated. Hrm. She's also not seeing any aerial threats. Yet. Of course, to be any use in a ground fight, she's going to have to land...or leave it on autopilot and have Supergirl carry her down. Which she's done before, with various flight capable heroes. Nightwing kneels and pulls a PDA like device from his boot. Turning several directions as he walks, he looks up, his eyes landing on a fairly nondescript warehouse, one of hundreds more along the waterfront. "I've got something.. but it's weak. Very weak. Kara, can you see inside it? I want to know if we're walking into a trap." He says over the comms, his voice little more than a whisper. Got to love the subsonic transmitters. Nightwing is picking up a homing signal from Cyborg's transponder a few hundred feet ahead. In any case, it would be in a large, bulky warehouse that looks abandoned.. But that's also lined over with a thin layer of lead and aesbestos underneath, which is muffling enough to block both Supergirl's X-Ray vision and her Superhearing. Kara Zor-El looks down. "I don't really call them that, you know." Okay, really really hating that cartoon. Like everything she does now has to have the word 'Super' in front of it. What's next, Super disguises? Super Baking? Super Weaving??? Super ventriloquism????? Nah... too stupid, no one would ever do something that dumb. She stops where Bomber stops so she can look around from the vantage point with her -telescopic vision- and -x-ray vision-. She frowns a bit though when she sees the warehouse that Nightwing goes into. Since she not only can't see through it, she can't even hear through it. The lead-lined construction's one thing, but the mass-packing of asbestos or vinyl? More suspicious. She talks into the comm. "Um.... I can't see anything from up here actually. That building's lead lined. Can't even see anything through the whole electromagnetic spectrum. We're going to join you down there if that's okay? I'll go pick up Zinda. And we'll meet you inside with Pilot okay? Might be able to pick up something once inside." Starfire floats along after Kara, using her own vision to try and inspect the building, finding it likewise blocked and unable to penetrate the building as well. "Yes, let us rally and then go and investigate." THe hot tempered Tamaranean is all set to go charging in as well wtih the others as soon as htey're all in position. Pilot does slow circles then with a nod to Kara she dips her arms and starts a gliding descent down towards Nightwing. As she gets closer she starts flapping to slow herself enough so that she can drop onto the ground next to the black clad hero, taking a few running steps before she comes to a halt. She grabs her goggles off her forehead and pulls them down over her eyes. "Lead lined? That's not a good sign." Nightwing shakes his head, despite the distance between them. "No, I want you or Star to stay behind as cavalry, Pilot and Lady B come in with me. The fact that the building is shielded against your powers tells me they anticipated our finding the building. Which means they are going to have defenses in place more likely than not. If they could silence Cyborg that easily then they aren't shy on firepower. So we approach this carefully. I'm going to try the roof, find a silent entrance." He relays over comms. Then he fairly vanishes, sliding sideways into the shadows and keeping to them as he approaches. No need to give any hidden snipers a target. "Got it." She sets the plane on autopilot, then unstraps herself, moving to the hatch and opening it. It'll stay up there until they come get it...hopefully they won't be gone so long it runs out of fuel. She actually hangs out of the hatch, not at *all* concerned by heights, until Supergirl comes to get her. Is she grinning? Nah...not under the circumstances, but this is a woman who's done suborbital leaps before. Starfire nods over her assent at Nightwing's order, her giving a hand signal then to Kara as she dimmed her glow a bit to make herself somewaht less obvious, going to fly over on one side of the building with intent to be a flanking support if necessary. Pilot nods in response to Nightwing's orders, then she takes a few running steps and leaps into the air. A few heavy beats of her arms and she is in flight, gaining altitude in a quick climb towards the roof. Once she's up there she slowly circles, waiting on Nightwing to hopefully find a spot to enter...and to stop being so ninja-sneaky that she can't see him. Nightwing says, "No that's right. Pilot is on the roof of the warehouse in question, waiting on Nightwing to join her. I'm still en route. the whole.. not being able to fly thing slows me down :P" Pilot says, "Nightwing was on the street, said he was going to the roof, then ninja'd into the shadows. Pilot flew up to the roof while he looked for the entrance. I didn't see him say he was actually entering" Kara Zor-El puts Zinda down on the roof, then flies down to meet up with Starfire on the ground. As Nightwing, Pilot, and Lady Blackhawk go thier way inside, Starfire is waved off to remain outside with Supergirl as backup. And so, the trio work their way inwards. First, they see a bruised and battered Cyborg tied down to a chair, seemingly unconscious and locked within a force cage! Next, there's a loud cackle, "Smile, you're on candid camera!" Gizmo does a backflip as a half dozen heavy autoturrets go over to spray at the trio sneaking within the building and blast with heavy energy pulses! Right as inside Shimmer appears over and goes to transmogrify the catwalk the group were sneaking inside over to silly putty to try and drop them towards the floor! And outside as Supergirl realizes that the building is freshly constructed and different than the ones around it to specifically block off her powers, Starfire is met wtih a mighty PUNCH from Mammoth, sending her smashing into the ground! Charger flips over towards Supergirl, "You're not the Son of Krypton, but you'll do in a pickle!" And goes to lash out over at her with his electro-tendrils to try and give her a massive shock as Deuce attempts to overload her senses if he can with replicants of himself to make her unsure as to where she's being attacked from! Say Hello tot he FEARSOME FIVE! And inside the building, walls slam down inside all of it, made of reinforced titanium and cutting those inside off from the melee outside! Nightwing narrows his eyes in a very Batman-ish move. He should have seen this coming. "We're comin buddy, but we gotta take out the trash fir..." He trails off feeling the catwalk under him give way, one hand around Lady B, the other on his grappel gun, swinging to safety. Pilot should be fine, as she's got wings. Landing easily, Zinda released, he spins to face the threat on rather more solid ground. Kara Zor-El looks at Charger and Deuce as the warehouse is sealed, then Starfire is slugged by Mammoth. "Kori!" Then she gets electrocuted by Charger. Seems like it's coming from several locations, thanks to Deuce, except there's only one of him really. "AAAAGH!" Because electricity hurts, people. Just chalk it up to another thing that hurts Kryptonians. She shoots out some heat vision, though it hits one of the illusions instead of the real Charger and Deuce. Plus, you know, she's getting electricuted while Kara's grabbing at the tendrils which are grappling her. What is with the whole tentacle fascination? she thinks, blaming that damn cartoon again in her mind. Starfire says, "Pose order is (adjusted) Kory/Outside NPC's, Nightwing, Pilot, Zinda, Kara/INside NPC's." Pilot doesn't really have wings, but she does give a good impression with her arm flapping. As all those guns open up she is already diving off the catwalk anyway, so she never even notices the silly putty part, or at least doesn't notice it before she's free falling towards the floor. She doesn't know Lady Blackhawk's abilities, so she quickly stretches her arms out wide to catch enough air to wheel sharply back towards the falling catwalk, giving Lady something softer than concrete to land on...her! Lady Blackhawk lands on the roof lightly as Nightwing releases her, moving to flank him and face the threat herself. She looks quite, quite ready for a fight, although, as usual, she carries no obvious weapons. "Maybe they like hentai," she quips in answer to Supergirl, not at all concerned, at least outwardly, with the danger. As Nightwing lands on the ground, and Zinda lands on... well... Pilot, the ground actually becomes liquid... then solidifies again after Nightwing's feet sink into it. Meanwhile, a steel mesh net shoots down on Pilot and Zinda. A spotlight comes on. "It's showtime, snotbags!" A little ugly looking, bald headed midget wearing goggles flies out on a jetpack into the light. Gizmo aims his turrent guns. "What a bunch of losers!" he snickers. Meanwhile Shimmer walks over as well clapping lightly. "Usually I don't agree with the little troll here, but yeah.... Plus your friends outside will be joining us soon as the rest of our team is done with them as well." As Kara swings around, she's able to grab Charger by his chargers, and he keeps on pouring on the juice at the Kryptonian, "Hey, little help here!" Deuce just went to have her illusions all charge over towards Kara, trying to disorient her from her grabbing as she went to throw a dart over at a nearby power line, intent on collapsing it to have the power lines land upon Charger to fire him up and have him give an extra jolt over to Supergirl! Meanwhile, Starfire was engaged with Mammoth, in one of his stronger phases, and he was taking each blow the Tamaranean Princess gave right back just as hard, the two slamming into one another at full power! Starfire says, "Kara, then Nightwing-Pilot-Zinda!" Kara Zor-El grabs the tendril which is electricuting her, since her vision isnt exactly reliable right now thanks to Deuce, and gives it a hard yank, then punches whatever flies at her! With Lady Blackhawk saved by the quick grab from Nightwing, Pilot's dive back to offer a landing spot for the heroine isn't needed, and Pilot is frankly pretty glad about that. The tight confines of a warehouse aren't optimal flying conditions, but she plans on giving it a go. Of course, just as she's pulling up to take a strafing run on the bad guys she and Lady B get snagged in a steel mesh net. No forward flight means no flight at all for Pilot, so when the net stops her she falls to the floor, landing in a heap. It takes her a second to start to try and get up, while trying to find Gizmo to give him a little of groundfire. "Bang!" Nightwing looks down at his solidly stuck boots, as pilot runs for it. Unwilling to fight the rest of this fight barefoot, he instead reaches into a compartment on his gauntlets and pulls forth two items. One a small capsule, the other a high tech looking shuriken. The shuriken he hurls at Gizmo, the electrical charge the little device disharges being more than enough to knock his tech offline, and give him a nasty headache. If it hits. The capsule, far harder to track.. is then hurled at Shimmer. On contact it explodes with a small but dense cloud of concentrated knockout gas. If it hits, she'll be out for days. From afar, Starfire requests permission to have as Kara swings Mammoth toss Kory into her so Kara fistslasm her. Lady Blackhawk is unable to break out of the mesh. So, she sort of curls inwards, waiting. "A little help here," she murmurs, hoping somebody will hear her. Pulling inward also helps disentangle her some from the winged Pilot...they need to be able to separate themselves properly, after all. You paged Starfire with 'what does fistslam mean?' Starfire pages: You're swinging blindly, so Mammoth is going to toss Kory so you punch her in the face. You paged Starfire with 'poor Kori' The first shurikens hit Gizmo's backpack rather well, causing a bzzt as his devices short out temporarily. Of course, that also means his jetpack, so he falls to the ground with an oof. "SNOTBAG JERKFACE OW REROUTING POWER..." he says on the ground as he tries to scramble out of the way since he has no ... well... gizmos... handy. Shimmer, on other hand, isnt as easily felled. The knockout gas strikes just as she puts her hands out, causing the knockout gas to instead become potpourri scent. "Yeah...... I'm a molecular transmuter, dude. Gizmo, finish hi- Gizmo?" She looks around for her pint sized team member. Kara Zor-El throws a punch at Charger as he's yanked over at her. Unfortunately, thanks to Deuce, it's not Charger who's being hurled in her direction, but rather Starfire who gets thrown at her. Stupid illusions. So instead of hitting Charger, Kara punches Starfire instead. Lucky thing she's been learning to pull her punches, but a pulled punch from Supergirl isn't exactly a slap with a wet napkin. Lady Blackhawk says, "...ow." Starfire is flung through the air by Mammoth over at Kara, and with Kara swinging about wildly due to Deuce's interference, she ends up getting clobbered by Kara *RIGHT* on the chin. The sound of the blow is hearable inside even through the titanium walls covering the interior as Starfire -FOLDS-! Mammoth lets out a laugh, "That's a way to give 'em one to the team. NOw, let a pro help out Superdoll!" Mammoth went to charge in towards Supergirl as Charger tried to keep her entangled in his electrotendrils as he was yanked off his feet, and Deuce tried to make it seem as if a hundred of him along with dozens of Mammoths were all trying to dogpile on her! Nightwing shruggs at the now floral scented Shimmer. "I figured you could use the new scent. Starting to smell like the sewers. Wait, that is where you hang out right? otherwise you've got serious issues, more than the obvious." He taunts her, pulling and testing the concrete, trying to get free. He turns away, a small smile on his face, pulling another capsule free. This one he hurls at her feet, not at her directly. It's an incendiary, and with most potpuri being alchohol based.. poof. Probably won't hurt much, as it'll flash off, but it'll buy him time at least. Pilot struggles against the net beside Lady Blackhawk, trying to crawl under it like crawling under the sheets of a bed, working her way towards the edge. Of course, that doesn't prevent her from looking over at Gizmo, pointing a finger at him and giving him another shot. Hopefully this time her 'gun' will hit. "Bang! Bang bang!" She shoots three of her force 'bullets' at him, hopefully putting him down for the count. She is rather jealous of those goggles he's wearing though. Tech envy! And...wriggle. There. The net isn't attached to anything. A moment later, Zinda is free of it, rising to her feet and pointing her very real, very physical gun at...hrm. Tons of Mammoths. She can't possibly pick the right one, Gizmo seems not to be a problem. Nightwing is handling Shimmer. She tries to get a bead on...Deuce. Or where Deuce appears to be, given she IS an illusionist. They've managed to get the doors open now that Gizmo is down and the titanium piling is retracting (probably should have thought that through BEFORE installing the lock-in deathtrap system, silly Gizmo) as the melee goes on about outside! Lady Blackhawk says, "By where the net is, trying to get a bead on Deuce." Kara Zor-El blinks. "Oh crap, Kori!" She frowns. "Oh screw this!" Then just lets loose with a burst of hurricane force superbreath, which should be enough to send any non-superstrong people in the area flying into walls. That's enough to send everyone /but/ Mammoth scattering like bowling pins on a strike, but Mammoth just laughs, "Trying to blow hot air?" Going to charge towards Supergirl as the rest of his comrades in the Fearsome Five Folded to try and lay onto her with a savage haymaker! As well as the quick snap shot from Zinda sending Deuce to a 'What the Deuce' moment as it took him down HARD. When Nightwing throws the next 'spark grenade' at Shimmer, the potpourri in the air ignites in a flash, causing her to scream "AAH! CANT SEE!" as she's blinded by the bright flash of exploding potpourri in the air. Gizmo is off hiding somewhere behind a crate as the 'bullets' are flying, swearing to himself as he's trying to get a reroute on his invention's power outputs. Nightwing says, "am i still stuck?" Kara Zor-El says, "actually you'd still be stuck." Kara Zor-El says, "one of her favorite moves is to turn the ground into liquid, then transmute it back to the normal solid." Starfire is getting up again /right/ as Mammoth charges in towards Supergirl, his boot stomping her head down into the ground an dleaving a Tamaranean-shaped crater within! Nightwing grins to himself, his tactics stealing Shimmer's sight. One hand rises to his mask, touching the toggle on the inside rim, switching from light enhancing to thermal imaging. He'd much prefer the auto-correcting thermal/night/ifra/ X-ray vison modes of the Bat-Cowl.. but then.. he'd be Batman. Looking up, he takes a moment to orient himself, looking outside. Deuces illusions are just light.. not real. the man himself though.. And Mammoth. "Kara! Two to your left, three deep! Aim for center mass!" He calls out Deuces true position to give his teammate the edge. With Gizmo down, Shimmer blind, he bends and pulls a small knife from his boot, and starts chipping at the cement, trying to free himself. Inside the warehouse: Nightwing - feet trapped in the floor as if he stepped in wet cement which then hardened Pilot - under the net in the warehouse 'shooting' at Gizmo. Lady Blackhawk - in the warehouse but running out with her gun pointed at Mammoth. Gizmo - hiding behind some crates while Pilot keeps shooting at him, trying to get his gadgets working again. Shimmer - out in the open in the warehouse, but blinded. Outside: Starfire - on the ground after being punched by Kara, then stomped on by Mammoth. Deuce/Charger - got knocked into a wall by superbreath and just beginning to get back up (Deuce resuming illusions) Mammoth - charging at Supergirl and throwing a punch at her. Supergirl - getting punched by Mammoth while he has multiple illusions that she swings back at. Deuce and Charger are in fact getting up, the shot from Zinda having hit Deuce, but not badly, and he's sending his swarm of duplicates back over towards Kara again, at least trying to separate her over from the rest of the Titans as Charger his picking himself out of the wall! You paged Lady Blackhawk with 'you have a clear shot at the real deuce, since she's the one who was hit into the wall and NOT charging' From afar, Lady Blackhawk nods. Is, of course, trying NOT to kill her. Pilot manages to get out from under the net a moment after Zinda, probably due to Zinda in fact. With that off of her she contemplates trying to get airborne, but instead she rushes for the crate that Gizmo is hiding behind, and as she leaps for it she kicks on her "Rocket Assist". This shoots her forward fast and hard, crashing right into the crate at full speed. Lucky for her she can't get hurt in that sort of a crash, but maybe it will get Gizmo. Lady Blackhawk narrows her eyes and takes aim on Deuce again. She is, of course, trying not to kill her, but every time she breaks her concentration, the illusions vanish. That has to make it easier for her allies. Is she smiling? Just a little bit, squeezing the trigger gently to release another shot. Definitely relaxed now she's out from under that blasted net. Kara Zor-El gets punched a few times by Mammoth, though she doesn't seem to get hurt by it. Fourth time, when Nightwing calls out the warning, she blocks the punch, then punches back, but again hits at an illusion. Then suddenly, the illusions of Mammoth all vanish, leaving only the real Mammoth. Supergirl frowns at Mammoth, who just goes "uh...." when his ability to hit Kara without getting hit back suddenly vanishes and the Kryptonian pulls her fist back, then sends it at him - this time not at an illusion. At the same time, by the wall, Deuce is sending waves upon waves of 'copies' mentally projected at Supergirl to keep her busy, in addition to keeping up the illusory Mammoths so Supergirl is less likely to successfully hit back. She then gasps as she gets shot in the shoulder and falls down, losing her concentration and clutching her arm. "Who the heck shot me! Charger who shot -" She's cut off as a huge Mammoth-sized shadow gets larger as the oversized 'muscle' of the Fearsome Five hurtles at them and into the wall from the punch from a very annoyed Kryptonian girl. Inside the warehouse, Gizmo keeps hiding until he finally gets a working reboot of his power systems. He jumps back from where he was hiding. "OKAY NOW EAT FRAG YOU - AAAH!" he shouts as Pilot rocket-propels herself into a stack of crates, which fall down burying the pint-sized villain, not to mention knocking him totally unconscious. Shimmer, meanwhile, is still stumbling around, still blinded and trying to find the exit, calling for Mammoth (her brother). Starfire is trying to get up again, right as the rocket propelled Mammoth hits her, flattening her again before rocketing over towards the other end of the area, Starfire impacting a bit deeper. So far, the fight seems to be going well for the Titans, surprisingly enough with their adversaries. Deuce is hurt badly, Gizmo is down, Charger is probably close to it if not already, and Shimmer is covered in sparkles. You paged Starfire with 'wait starfire got hit AGAIN?' From afar, Starfire grins. YES. After several minutes of trying to force the tip of his knife into the cement without stabbing himself.. Nightwing gives it up as a bad job. Looking up, he switching his vision back to light enhancing, and glances around. So far his team is winning. Good. "Need a hand over here as soon as you're free. A superstrong hand preferably." He says over the comms. Pilot might be immune to the crash itself, but sometimes getting out of the resulting mess is rather hard. She pushes at the crates with some grunts and groans and with some slinky slithering she manages to pop out of a small gap between the tumbled crates, "Did we win?" she quips, pushing her goggles up from where they were around her mouth. Then she spots Dick's sticky situation and she rushes over to see what she can do...though she certainly doesn't qualify on the superstrong bit. Lady Blackhawk turns her attention to Mamoth, squeezing off a shot at him once he's clear of Starfire. Shimmer...she's pretty sure can be handled by Nightwing, again. Trusting him. Kara Zor-El winces as she has now gotten Starfire hit twice. She smiles at Zinda. "Thanks....." then sees Nightwing inside asking for help with getting lose and runs in there. A quick punch to the concrete floor and the ground around him breaks so that he's standing in rubble instead of having feet encased by cement. Shimmer stumbles towards the warehouse exit still not able to see, near where Zinda is. Starfire is now a pancake. Again. SLowly crawling out of the Starfire shaped hole in the ground now that Mammoth seems to not be hitting her anymore, rubbing her broken jaw. And...what's this? There's a highly disoriented bad guy stumbling towards Zinda. Definitely not going to waste a bullet on her, not at this range, the Gothamite grins, then turns the pistol around and aims the butt right towards Shimmer's jaw. Just because while she's conscious she MIGHT still be able to use her powers. Poor Shimmer. And Shimmer goes down quickly, unconscious. And that's definitely going to be a black eye. Nightwing steps free of the floor turned rubble as soon as he's able. "Thank you kindly.." He tells Kara, then moves to Cyborgs side. With Gizmo down and out, it's just a matter of a few seconds to disable the force cage and cut the ropes binding the badly beaten Cyborg. "Here we go buddy.. you're safe now. And you really need to lay off the chilli burgers and mega shakes.." He teases the man, heaving the man to his feet and walking with him, doing his best to support the man. "Kara.. Star.. little help here? It's very unprofessional to give yourself a hernia.." Starfire goes over to help Victor, "I am so happy we were able to rescue you friend Cyborg.. Are you all right?" Going to the other side then as the Titans would fall back to the base once the not-quite-Fearsome Five were arrested.